1. Field of the Disclosed Embodiments
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for uniquely automating and otherwise gamifying a Squares Game to incorporate technology, such as hosting on mobile and personal communicating and computing devices in a manner that (1) simplifies hosting and participation, and (2) introduces a streamlined process for, for example, selecting interior game squares, among many players, with application across many sporting events and sports types, with an objective of attracting high levels of potential consumer and/or customer traffic.
2. Related Art
In the week or weeks leading up to certain particularly noteworthy contests for national championships, or contests at the professional or collegiate level that are of particular note, if only to establish local “bragging” rights, certain wagering pools emerge in businesses, offices, sports bars, among friends and the like. In circumstances, there will be weekly pools for a particular team regardless of the opposition.
An extremely popular game played by sports fans, including attendees and viewers of particularly noteworthy football games, including what is commonly referred to as the Big Game, is the “Squares Game.” FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a typical embodiment of a Squares Game matrix form 100. In popular embodiments, a ten by ten square matrix participation area 110 is hand-drawn or otherwise produced by a host. The host circulates the matrix form 100 among colleagues, associates, friends, co-workers, customers and the like soliciting their participation in the game. The matrix form 100 may include certain logos, other identifying information, contact data, instructions or other like inputs in, for example, a free form identifying field 160. The matrix form 100 may contain blank border fields 120,130 outside the ten by ten square matrix participation area 110, e.g., across the top (as show) or bottom, and down the left side (as shown) or right side, to be filled in when all of the hundred squares in the matrix participation area 110 have been selected by participants.
For the host, the process of soliciting participation in filling in the matrix participation area 110 by “selling” the squares, one square or a couple of squares at a time, can be a time-consuming and frustrating undertaking as enthusiasm for participation among a narrow population of participants with whom the host may be associated and/or interact ebbs and flows. Some of this burden on the host may be eased by “selling” the individual squares in pre-planned groups of four (as is indicated in FIG. 1 by the slightly heavier lines in the matrix participation area 110) as, for example, “super” squares.
After selling/filling all of the squares in the matrix participation area 110, the still blank border fields 120,130, may be filled in with “score heading” numbers in the manner shown in FIG. 1. These score heading numbers, in the context of a conventional football pool, corresponding to the final digit of each of the “Home” and “Away” (see elements 140,150) team scores for the game, or at intervals, e.g., by halves or by quarters, according to a pre-determined and pre-announced prize structure. The score heading numbers entered into the border fields 120,130 are typically randomly selected one at a time, and placed at the top or left of a column or row in the example shown in FIG. 1, respectively.
The letters A-Z (minus Q) will be described in view of the disclosed embodiments below.
Participants in Squares Games may, for example, pay $5 per square, for a total prize pool of $500. The collected sales proceeds from the Squares Game are then divided among the participants, typically based upon the score of the game at the pre-determined intervals. As examples, the score at the end of each quarter of a football game may garner the “winning” participant a 25% increment of the overall prize pool, or these scores may garner 20% increments for the first 3 quarters, and 40% for the end of game score. In some instances, the Squares Game host or organizer may retain a portion of the square sales proceeds, to offset a “cost” of managing the game. These games are generally informally administered among groups of friends and/or colleagues, and the “rules” are generally pre-briefed to all participants who then voluntarily agree to participate according to those rules.